This invention relates to releasable clasps, and more particularly to a clasp for a necklace or the like. An object of the invention is to provide a necklace clasp that is positive and at the same time easy to engage and disengage, i.e., a clasp that can be operated without fumbling and by feel alone. Many clasps presently in use are made of small parts hard to grasp and which require complicated manipulations to operate. The present invention involves a releasable clasp which overcomes the objections just noted.
Releasable holding devices have been utilized in the past. One patent disclosing such a device is Erickson U.S. Pat. No. 3,689,962 which issued Sept. 12, 1972, relating to a releasable button-like element in which a grooved shaft engages a flanged grommet. The grommet is otherwise unsupported, and does not provide a releasable holding device as in the present invention.
In the present invention, a releasable clasp specifically adapted for a necklace or other item of jewelry is provided, in which a holder comprising a web of flexible material is supported within a rigid housing. The web has a hole therethrough adjacent an open housing end, and the housing and holder together constitute a first clasp part. A shaft of rigid material having an enlarged head at one end thereof constitutes a second clasp part. The enlarged head is sized so that it can pass through by stretching the hole in the web with the application of a predetermined joining force and can be withdrawn therefrom only upon application of a pre-established withdrawal force, so as to releasably join together the two clasp parts. These first and second clasp parts may be made in decorative fashion, the holder of flexible material being supported within the rigid housing, completely out of sight. The two clasp parts can be easily joined together and removed. By the use of high strength silicone rubber, e.g., as the holder material, and by structuring the holder in the form of a generally tubular element which includes the web as a transverse part intermediate the ends thereof which engages the enlarged head of the shaft, the dimensions of the holder may be varied to vary the forces needed to join together and unjoin the two clasp parts. A locking pin may also be provided to lock the clasp parts together.
The invention will be more completely understood by reference to the following detailed description.